


A Bond in Time

by alice_time



Category: Continuum (TV), The Sentinel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Spoilers for early season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 05:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14301804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alice_time/pseuds/alice_time
Summary: Kiera is a dormant Sentinel, her power suppressed as the future as so few Guides. But she's about to discover the Guide she never wanted--in the past.





	A Bond in Time

Things had gotten easier for Kiera since Alec arranged for her new identity. She could use her own name, for one thing, but at the same time things were getting harder. She missed her son. She missed her husband. She wasn’t sure how she was going to take down Liber8 and then there was the fact that she’d ended up in a time before the Caecus virus had practically eliminated Guides from the gene pool.

Without Guides to balance out them out, it had become necessary to implant latent Sentinels with suppression technology, ensuring they would not come online unless a viable Guide was detected first. Latent Sentinels like Kiera. Sure, she had her CMR and the Sentinel-Emulation protocols that came as part and parcel of that gave her a hint of what it would be like if she _did_ come online.

That wasn’t what had her worried.

Here, in this time, Guides outnumbered Sentinels. It was more than possible that the suppression tech would recognize a Guide she could match with and stop functioning. And if she…if she _Bonded_ —going home would be a death sentence. She’d slowly lose her grip on reality without a Guide to keep her stable. Pharmaceuticals only did so much to help. They’d learned that hard way.

It was so strange seeing Bonded pairs every day at the station. The little shield logo of the S/G Center wasn’t prominently displayed by any means, but it was stitched on uniforms, pinned on lapels or worn as rings. In her own time, as far she knew, there were only six or seven online, Sentinel/Guide pairs in the world.

Every day was a risk. All she could to do was try to focus on the cases as they came to her.

The newest of which involved a dead body with a hole in its skull. She’d managed to confuse the ME. The trail, such it as it was, led them to a fake name and a trap.

She called Carlos to give him a heads up, hearing gun fire in the background. Her heartbeat sped up as she took off for his location, passing Kellogg on the way and tagging him after his cocky little wave and smile.

Curtis Chen had Carlos in his grip, standing over the man with an unfriendly smile. Kiera rushed around the wall, gun in hand, taking the brunt of Chen’s attack. He threw her through a wall and she lost her grip on her gun. She heard Carlos’ heartbeat. Heard Carlos grunt as Chen kicked him.

She scrambled to get to her feet as Chen came at her again, all brash and confident.

She snarled.

“This is going to be easy,” he said.

“That’s what you think.” Her HUD display came up suddenly.

_Alert! Warning!_

She blinked, focusing her attention on Chen.

_Sentinel Suppression Offline._

“What?”

She shook her head, batting away Chen’s next punch and pulling him into a chokehold.

_Sentinel Coming Online._

Kiera growled again, grabbing hold of a metal cord on the wall and jerking it free, wrapping it around Chen’s neck with more strength than she could remember. She held it tighter and tighter and tighter until—his heart stopped.

“Kiera?” Carlos was on his feet, bloody and bruised, but on his feet. He took careful note of her dilated eyes, the way her hands trembled and the low growl still coming from her throat. “Kiera, it’s Carlos. It’s okay.”

She blinked, letting Chen’s body fall to the floor. A few seconds later, she clapped her hands over her ears, sliding down to the floor with a pained expression on her face. Carlos heard the sirens seconds later.

Moving quickly, he slipped down next to her, placing a hand on her wrist. “Sentinel, I need you listen to me, you’re going to zone out if you don’t try to dial back. Okay?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

_No_. Kiera shook her head. Everything was too loud. Carlos was too loud. Kids playing two blocks away. The sirens. Shouts. _No._ Her skin was itching. Burning. Colors were too bright. She could hear Carlos’ heart beating. She could smell his concern, and she hadn’t even known concern _had_ a smell.  

Carlos squeezed her hand, trying to get her to focus, stroking his thumb over her skin. “Come on now, Kiera. Come back down.” Carlos had felt it when Kiera came online, and while he was surprised—he’d honestly thought she’d been online already, coping with a Guide in order to work covertly but…there was no doubting what he’d felt. What he was still feeling. The thrum of _Sentinel. Sentinel. Sentinel._ He’d been paired off with a lot of Sentinels in his work, but this was different. This was—this was _his_ Sentinel. And she was scared, edging on feral.

The arrival of the other cops set Kiera growling again and she shoved Carlos behind her. He raised his eyebrows a touch and immediately threw a hand up to caution the others. They got lucky with the responding teams—there was a Bonded pair with them. They arranged getting a perimeter set up, giving the newly online Sentinel some space. She was just a hair away from feral and Carlos was doing everything he could to calm her down when Inspector Dillon arrived.

“What’s going on?” He glanced around.

“Looks like Agent Cameron was a latent Sentinel, she came online,” Officer Sloane, the Guide of the Bonded pair present, offered up. “Fonnegra is trying to get her calmed down but…I think we’re about to see a Field-Bond.”

“You’re kidding,” Dillon deadpanned.

“No sir.” Sloane shook his head. “We’ve contacted the Center; with any luck they’ll get someone out here before that happens.”

“Can we get closer?”

“Not unless you want Cameron getting _more_ feral.”

“Great.” Dillon sighed. “Anything else I should know?”

“There’s a dead Liber8 gang member over there,” Sloane pointed.

“Fantastic.”

Meanwhile, Carlos was still trying to get Kiera to calm down. When people saw him, big tall him, they assumed he was a Sentinel. It was just a gut-reaction, but he came from a long line of powerful, well-respected Guides. Truth was, he couldn’t imagine anyone else handling Kiera right now. The Sentinel might have been on the slight side, but she was strong and more than capable.

_My Sentinel._

He took a deep breath. The feeling in the pit of his stomach told him the day they met that there was _something_ about Kiera. Now he knew what it was. She was his Sentinel. She was his Sentinel and she was just a little feral right then but more than that—she was resisting the urge to Bond with everything she had. Holding her mental landscape apart from his even in her near-feral state. He couldn’t even imagine how much strain it was putting on her.

Most likely because of something in her heavily confidential life. He could understand her not wanting to Bond given the nature of her job but—he wasn’t sure she would stabilize without it. The moments when she wasn’t snarling at the perimeter cops, she was starting to zone out. Her skin was cold to the touch and he was fairly certain she was about to go into shock.

It was the initial stage of something they called Sentinel sickness and if he couldn’t get her to stop fighting the Bond, there was every chance she’d slip into a coma…and never wake up.

_I’m not going to let you go._ “Kiera,” he whispered, nearly desperate. “Kiera you need to stop fighting the Bond. You’re killing yourself.”

She shook her head. _Can’t Bond. Can’t Bond. Can’t Bond._

“Kiera,” he pulled her into his arms, ignoring the growls and the thrashing, holding her tight as he could. “Calm down. If you don’t stop fighting it, you will die. Understand? It’s too much. You’re in too much stress, your system is trying to fix it but it can’t do that while you’re fighting the Bond. I’m sorry.”

_Fight and die or Bond and live._

Bond. Live. _Maybe I could find a way back to Sam anyway. Maybe I could—maybe Carlos would go with me?_

She clenched her jaw. It hurt. Everything hurt.

_Okay._

_Okay._

She stopped fighting.  

_***_

Kiera wasn’t sure where she was. The loud had stopped and she didn’t feel like her skin was on fire anymore. She opened her eyes to look around. The room was the same color as oatmeal, or near enough. There was nothing bright. The sheets on the bed were soft. Incredibly soft. Someone had stripped her out of the cheap suit she’d been wearing and put her in a loose shift.

“Where am I?”

“SG Center.”

“Carlos?” She pushed herself upright and caught sight of the man sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, Kiera.” He smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“Better? I think.” She licked her lips. “Off center.”

Her HUD display come back up. _Compatible Guide in Proximity._

_No shit._

“Kiera, you’ve stabilized but they’re saying it’s only a matter of time before you start losing focus again. You maxed out all five senses. You won’t stay stable without a full-Bond.” He was pretty sure she’d partially imprinted on him in the field. It’s the only reason she was still coherent.

She took a breath. “I’ll die.”

“Yeah.”

She bit her lip and shook her head, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

“Kiera, I know you have a life that isn’t this one but—you won’t get back to that life if you die.”

_Should I tell him the truth? Would he even believe me if I did?_

“Carlos, there’s a reason—you’d never believe me if I told you.” She shook her head again.

“Kiera, I can _feel_ you. You came online and it was like sparks went off in my head. You are my Sentinel. Whatever you tell me, I’ll believe.” He shifted a bit closer to her and took her hand in his. “Just tell me the truth, Kiera.”

“The truth…” _His hand feels—his hand feels like an anchor._ “The truth is I’m from the future.” She glanced over at him. “Liber8? They’re from the future too. My husband. My son.” She shook her head. “They haven’t even been born yet.” She took a deep breath and told him the whole story. From the moment she got up out of bed that fateful morning, to her deal with Kellogg, to Alec Sadler. His hand never left hers and his eyes never left her face.

She was shaking, trembling under his hand. He could feel the fear of rejection. The uncertainty. But he could also feel the grief that was always lingering under the surface. The pain she worked so hard to bury.

As strange as it all sounded, he knew she was telling him the truth. He could feel it.

Carlos took a deep breath. “I believe you, Kiera. No matter what happens, we’ll find a solution to this together. All right?”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” He looked into her eyes. “You believe me?”

Kiera nodded, blinking back tears. “Thank you.”

“Now, let’s save you.” He squeezed her hand gently. “Bond with me?”

Kiera exhaled and she could feel something inside her untangle. _Whatever happens next, I won’t be alone in this._ She’d never be alone again.

Carlos felt it the moment she let go. Felt her energy reach out toward him. He reached back.

_Whatever happens next,_ Carlos thought, _we’ll be together._

And at least now, now he knew the truth. He understood what Kiera had been going through. Hiding. Fighting.

And he was going to fight with her. For her.

Until they found a way to get her home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot I've been noodling on and finally finished. I don't really have any plans to extend it. I just wanted to toy with the idea of this moment. So...it's sort of a vignette.


End file.
